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CHICAGO – At the world’s largest conference and exhibit for laboratory medicine, AACC will showcase the cutting edge science and technology shaping the future of medical testing and patient care. This year, the meeting will include the latest news about mobile health, big data, and infectious disease testing, among many other major healthcare topics.

From July 27–31, the 2014 AACC Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo is expected to draw more than 17,500 attendees, including prominent leaders in medicine and healthcare, to Chicago’s McCormick Place. Six hundred fifty exhibitors will also introduce more than 200 new diagnostic products, making this one of the 10 largest medical exhibitions in the U.S.

The 2014 AACC annual meeting will include insights on the following:

Mobile health. Digital health guru Eric Topol, MD, will deliver the keynote on how mobile technology and the internet are transforming healthcare. Another symposium will also cover how lab-on-a-chip technology can combat illegal designer drugs, and will look at two experimental technologies that could be the future of illicit drug testing: a point-of-care volumetric bar-chart chip and a miniaturized mass spectrometry device.

Big data. Monday’s plenary speaker Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, co-author of Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, will explore how the medical world can harness the massive amounts of data generated by genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic analyses to create new diagnostic tests and disease treatments.

Infectious diseases. A recent report from the World Health Organization found that microbial drug resistance has become a serious public health threat worldwide, a troubling trend that the short course “Hot Topics in Clinical Microbiology” will examine. Two other sessions will also focus on MALDI-TOF MS, a rising diagnostic technology that is poised to replace standard infectious disease testing techniques—some of which date back to the 1800s—and that could become an important weapon in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Game-changing diagnostic innovations. From smartphone-based diagnostic readers, to biochips with the potential to diagnose HIV, to the first HPV test approved for primary cervical cancer screening, the newest diagnostic technology in mobile health, infectious diseases, reproductive health, and more will be displayed at the AACC Clinical Lab Expo.

“This is an exciting time for the field of laboratory medicine,” said AACC CEO Janet B. Kreizman. “Advances in medical science and information technology hold great promise to tailor treatments to patients’ individual needs and to make healthcare more widely accessible. The 2014 AACC Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo features a line-up of talks that underscore laboratory medicine’s role in driving modern healthcare forward to help patients achieve better health.”

About the 2014 AACC Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo

AACC's annual meeting offers 5 days packed with opportunities to learn about exciting science from July 27–31. Plenary sessions feature expert presentations on how mobile technology and the internet are revolutionizing healthcare, the importance of newborn screening, big data, the biologic basis of obesity, and the latest advances that could lead to a cure for HIV.

At the AACC Clinical Lab Expo, 650 exhibitors will fill the show floor of Chicago’s convention center, McCormick Place, with displays of the latest diagnostic technology, including but not limited to automation, information systems, point-of-care, and biotech.

About AACC

Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) brings together more than 50,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of breaking laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit www.aacc.org.